Kanban — Visual Flow Management

Kanban is a visual workflow management method that limits work in progress (WIP) to improve flow and reduce bottlenecks. Originating in Toyota's manufacturing system, it uses a board with columns representing process stages and cards representing work items, with explicit WIP limits per column.

Why companies use it

·Makes workflow bottlenecks immediately visible — where cards pile up, a constraint exists
·Reduces multitasking and context switching by enforcing WIP limits
·Can be overlaid on existing processes without requiring role or structural changes (unlike Scrum)
·Improves flow efficiency metrics: lead time, throughput, and cycle time become measurable and improvable

What hiring managers look for

·Kanban is used in both software (Jira boards, GitHub Projects) and physical manufacturing (production cards, supermarket systems)
·Understanding WIP limits and why they improve flow is a fundamental lean/agile concept
·Experience using Kanban to manage a team's actual work — not just knowing the theory — is what they are looking for
·Knowing when to use Kanban versus Scrum (continuous flow vs. iterative sprints) shows framework maturity

Typical interview questions

What is the purpose of a WIP limit in Kanban and why does limiting WIP improve throughput?

How do you determine the right WIP limit for a given stage in a Kanban board?

What is the difference between Kanban for software development and kanban in a physical manufacturing context?

How would you handle a situation where the team is consistently hitting the WIP limit in one column?

Describe how you have used a Kanban board to manage your team's work. What metrics did you track?

Common mistakes

·Setting WIP limits but not enforcing them — a WIP limit that is ignored provides no benefit
·Not defining "done" clearly — cards that stay "in review" forever clog the board and hide the real bottleneck
·Treating the Kanban board as a status display for managers rather than a daily working tool for the team
·Making the board too complex — too many columns and swimlanes create overhead without improving visibility
·Not measuring or acting on cycle time data — the board's value is in the flow metrics, not just the visual

Real engineering example

An electronics engineering team handling ECO (Engineering Change Order) requests was always juggling 30+ active changes with no clarity on priority or status. They implemented a Kanban board with a WIP limit of 5 in "in design" and 3 in "in review". Within a month, average ECO lead time dropped from 6 weeks to 2.5 weeks. The WIP limit forced the team to finish changes rather than start new ones, eliminating the multitasking overhead that had hidden the real throughput bottleneck.

Topics covered

KanbanWIPflowagileleanworkflowboard

Related interview guides

Software Engineer →Manufacturing Engineer →Project Leader High Tech →